Revision as of 10:39, 19 November 2010

The JSDT debug project brings a variety of JavaScript debugging support to the JSDT using a common UI and communicating using a common protocol - JavaScript Debug Interface (JSDI). The common interface for the debugger emulates that of the platform and
JDT debugger to allow a smooth transition and ease of use for the JSDT debugger.

All of the bundles required for development of the JSDT debugger can be acquired using the team project set file here.

Planning

JSDT Debug follows directly the project plan for JSDT.

HOWTO

Embedding the Rhino Debugger

To use the Rhino debug support it must be linked to a running Rhino interpreter. This page describes how to do this.

Using the Rhino Debug Console

Launching the Rhino debugger with the Rhino console available is a very powerful tool that allows developers to perform many operations, one notable operation
is loading scripts on demand. This page describes how to launch with the Rhino console and some common usage scenarios.

Using Local Rhino Launching

New support added in 1.3 allows you to launch Rhino locally with a single click. More information on how to do so is found here.

Using the Crossfire Debugger

An alternative debugger that interacts with Firebug using Crossfire is under development. This page describes how to try and get the experimental version of the debugger up and running.

Using the Google Chrome Debugger

Another alternative debugger that can be tested is using v8 for Google Chrome. This page describes how to try and get the experimental version up and running.

Development

Rhino Debug Wire Protocol

To provide support for the Rhino interpreter, we had to create both sides of the coin - the debugger and the client. To facilitate communication between the debugger and the client we created an adapted version of v8 (JSON-based) packet communication. The complete specification for the RDWP can be found here.

JavaScript Debug Interface (JSDI)

The JSDI is used to provide a common way for our models and UI to communicate with a variety of debugger back-ends - write one UI + model and provide additional debuggers. The complete specification for the JSDI can be found here.